French Election: Mélenchon to quiz supporters’ voting intentions before advising

In last Sunday’s French election, among 11 candidates, only five were able to receive 5 percent of the votes, a benchmark required to get the campaign fully reimbursed. The top two, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen got selected in the second round and among the other three, the Republican candidate Francois Fillon and the socialist candidate Benoit Hamon were quick to offer their support for a Macron presidency, while the leftist candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon remains defiant despite calls from all across the European continent to provide support to Macron.

Instead, Mélenchon camp has revealed plans to quiz the supporters of their voting intentions before he issues his support to a candidate. His support remains crucial as he received 19.58 percent of the votes, only 4.5 percent points less than the top candidate. Some 450,000 registered members of Mr. Mélenchon’s France Untamed movement will be asked who they will vote for with the party considering issuing tactical voting advice. During his campaign, Mr. Mélenchon has said that he and his movement will continue to oppose the far-right candidate [Marine Le Pen] and the candidate of extreme finance [Emmanuel Macron].

A survey by IFOP shows 48 percent of Mélenchon voters plan to back Macron, 33 percent would like to abstain and 19 percent would back Marine Le pen.